The new apple variety ‘PLFOG99’ originated as a chance limb mutation on a ‘Cripps Pink’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,880) apple tree located in a commercial orchard at Kirup, Western Australia in late 1999. The limb was observed to produce fruit up to two weeks earlier than ‘Cripps Pink’ but also had a significantly different compact growth habit as compared to the ‘Cripps Pink’ tree. In 2000, ten trees were propagated from the mutated limb by budding onto high vigor ‘MM109’ apple rootstock, to determine trueness to type as compared with the original limb, for fruit maturity and quality, and compact growth habit. These trees were observed to grow very differently in the field nursery compared with ‘Cripps Pink’ and other apple trees. The growth type and habit of the trees was columnar and plant growth was compact, with fruit borne on spurs. The first crop, harvested from trees in their third leaf, was very good, yielding approximately 11 kg per tree. These initial promising observations provided the incentive to propagate an additional 100 trees over 4 years for planting from 2002 for further evaluation. Of the 400 trees planted at Kirup, three generations have been observed to be stable and true to type to date. No off-types have been observed. The new variety has been named ‘PLFOG99’.
‘PLFOG99’ is a new and distinct apple tree notable for its compact tree type, spur bearing habit, and early maturity as compared to ‘Cripps Pink.’